Milwaukee ties unite largest Midwest Jesuit class since 1995

(Left to right) Jesuit priests Joseph Simmons, Stephen Wolfe and Brad Held are all Marquette University graduates. Simmons also graduated from Marquette University High School and taught there prior to joining the Jesuits. Held will work in Marquette High’s campus ministry office in the fall.(Photo: Submitted photo)

If you had asked Wisconsin native Brad Held if he'd be celibate for the majority of his life, he would have laughed.

But that all changed during his junior year at Marquette University when he decided a career in political science wasn't for him. And on June 3, he was ordained with 11 other men in the largest class of Jesuits in the Midwest since 1995.

Three of the men graduated from Marquette.

"I was sitting in constitutional law and one day looking around the room and having this moment of 'What am I doing here?' " Held said. "This just wasn’t meant for me. I'm not meant to be heading out of here to go to law school."

Held had flickering thoughts since his freshman year about dedicating his life to the Jesuits, but he stifled them, thinking to himself, 'Yeah, no thanks.' But that day, he finally embraced his instincts.

It wasn't easy. He had a lot to give up — a girlfriend, the hope of being a dad and a husband one day. But he views those sacrifices as something that drives his ministry passion for high school teens that much stronger.

"If you want to look at it as very black and white, no, I'm not a parent," Held said. "It's one of the things that really made me fall in love with high school ministry, to be a teacher and to be connected with the students and be connected to families."

Held will begin working at Marquette University High School in the fall, helping in campus ministry and teaching theology classes.

The path to becoming a Jesuit priest is 11 years long — it can vary a bit depending on a person's background and course of studies — and emerges from the experiences and life of St. Ignatius Loyola.

Last year, the Midwest Jesuits — a region that covers most of 11 states — only ordained one person.

It isn't clear what brought about the influx of ordained Jesuits. Held said he believes Pope Francis is helping the Jesuit name with how he radiates happiness and practices prayer. But Francis has only been pope since 2013.

Held was joined by two other Marquette graduates, Joe Simmons and Stephen Wolfe. And while the three were just acquaintances at school, their friendships have bloomed to make being ordained at Church of the Gesu, central to the university's campus, that much more special.

"Being there among 11 other men was just a real sense of community," Held said. "There I was 11 years earlier wondering that maybe this was too different or too lonely ... being ordained that morning was the exact opposite."

Jacob Boddicker, who previously worked at Marquette High and for a Wauwatosa community, said it was almost like Milwaukee was ordaining him, since he began his journey in the city and was brought together with so many other men that had strong ties to the city.

"It is really heartening to know that there are going to be a dozen of us moving forward and serving together," Boddicker said said.

Editor's note: An earlier posted version of this story incorrectly attributed the final two paragraphs of the story to Joe Simmons.